How the Ethernet Alliance is Preparing Data Centers for Information Overload

Every online purchase, every e-mail you send, every photo you upload to social media contributes to the 5 exabytes of information we collectively upload to the internet every 2 days. As we leave behind external storage options in favor of cloud solutions, our perception of data becomes less tangible. But the virtualization of information merely dislocates your data to data farms spanning several miles or stories high, depending on your cloud provider’s server location.

3 New Ethernet Standards

To satisfy the demand for faster speed, data, and energy-efficiency, the Ethernet Alliance has recently announced three new IEEE 802.3 study groups:

25 Gbps Ethernet PMD(s) for Single Mode Fiber Study Group

50 GBPS Ethernet Over A Single Lane Study Group

Next Generation 100Gbps and 200Gbps Ethernet Study Group

These standards address the demand for higher data speeds to accommodate the surge of information being uploaded to the internet. These new Ethernet speeds will revamp hyperscale data centers, enterprises, cloud service providers, and many more backhaul and core networking environments seeking to prepare for the exponential growth of new content. Information technology is anticipating a deluge of content that will emerge from a variety of factors, including new internet users and the onslaught of devices and sensors that the Internet of Things (IoT) will introduce. These three new standards will allow core and backhaul networks to future-proof their systems.

The Symptoms of Information Overload

But with our smartphones attached to our hips, we’ve become susceptible to information overload— a side effect that stems from being connected to the internet 24/7. Similar terms include information glut and data smog— terms that allude to the negative symptoms of the information age. David Shenk’s Data Smog highlights some of the detrimental effects of having access to too much information, some of which include information anxiety, loss of privacy, and the distribution of inaccurate information.

What is good information anyway?

The Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom pyramid by Russel Ackoff segregates information into a hierarchy. Gartner predicts that by 2020, there will be 25 billion devices and sensors connected to the internet. The IoT revolution will introduce an unprecedented amount of raw data. Data scientists are faced with the challenge of making sense of these mass amounts of data. Data visualization tactics have been put into use to compose data into valuable information.

David Weignberger clarifies that “Information is a refinement of…data. Information…is the value we extract from data.” When does information evolve into knowledge? When expertise and skills can organize data and information into action, according to organizational theorist Russel Ackoff. And knowledge becomes wisdom when we “can see the long-term consequences of any act”.

But the IoT revolution is also proving to simplify our lives, especially in the home automation sector. Take a sneak peek into the smart home of the future here!

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